Lock-joint foe railway-baks



uNiTED sfrxfrns PATENT onricn.

AARON DOUGLASS, OF PATERSON, NEV JERSEY.

LOCK-JOINT FOR RAILWAY-BARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 29,681, dated August21, 1860; Ressued March 31, 1863, No. 1,442.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AARON DoUGLAss, of Paterson, in the county ofPassaic and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and ImprovedProcess for Making the Lock- Joints for Railroad-Bars, (Patent No.14,8685) and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, andexact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1,represents a plan view of one of the die-blocks-the lower die-block.Fig. 2 is a plan view of the upper die-block. Fig. 3, is an end view ofFig. 1. show the ends of the rail bars when formed in the dies of 1, 2and 3. Fig. 6 is a horizontal section, taken through a joint of tworails showing the swelled neck of the rail at the joint as produced bymy invention. Fig. 7, is a perspective view of a rail showing thedierent stages in the operation of making a joint.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

The object of this invention is to obtain a simple and more efficientmeans for producing the compound lap-joint for rail-road rails, patentedMay 13, 1856, No. 14,868, than that resorted to at present, viz, by along and tedious process of drilling and chiseling, that makes anexpensiv-e joint, when the object of the invention is to obtainsimplicity and cheapness.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand my invention, Iwill proceed to describe its construction and operation.

In the drawings, A, represents the base die-block that is made ofhardened metal and in which the figure of one half of one rail end iscut in intaglio. The portion a, corresponding with the swelled end ofthe rail when nished, is depressed while the portion b, corresponding tothe notch c, made in the rail end to form the lap f, is filled up int-he die as represented in Fig. 1, so as to prevent the metal fromspreading out at this point when the dies are subjected to a blow from atrip hammer. The upper die, or counter die, has inserted in it a pieceg, which gives the desired shape to the lip of the rail and allow forthe upsetting of the metal and the formation of the swelled neck,represented clearly in Fig. 6. This operation forms the lap and recessperfectly with the exception Figs. 4 and 5,-

of beveling the surface,-for securing or locking the joint against alateral thrust.

This latter Objectis obtained by a die-plate, B that is placed inanother mold conforming to the shape of the rail end with its swelledneck and when the end of the rail is properly placed within this mold,or counter-die, in an inverted state, the base of the rail beinguppermost, with the portion L over the plate, L it is struck with thehammer, and the beveled portion of the plate 71, forms a correspondingbeveled portion, h on the rail. A clamping screw or wedge may beemployed in this second operation for-locking the rail laterally in afirm and rigid state while it receives the blow from the hammer. Thesetwo operations will suffice to form the perfect compound lap-joint abovereferred to, and that represented by Figs. 4 and 5.

Now in order to give a clearer understanding of the method of swagingthe ends of T-rails so as to form the compound lapjoint with its severallaps, vertical, and inclined surfaces, and swelled neck, I will describethe several stages in the process. The ordinary T-rail is sawed outwhile cold as follows: The piece z' of Fig. 7 is first cut out by ahorizontal and vertical cut as indicated by the red lines thereon, thenthe piece f is sawed out, leaving a portion of the lap that helps toform the joint, when the two rails are brought together. This is all thesawing requisite. The end of this rail thus cut is first heated to theweldingvpointf and placed in the counter-die of Fig. 1, with thesectional or full portion of the rail resting on the base of the counterbed and the flat surface of the lap portion uppermost. The die-block ofFig. 2, with its counter die is then placed over the rail end while inthe lower die block and by giving it a smart blow from a steam hammer,the inclined surface of the die-piece b forms the inclined plane c onthe end of the lap f of the rail and at the same time, the die portion gof the upper block, (Fig. 2), forms a recess c in the rail as shown inFigs. 4, 5, and 7, and fills up the depressions a in the neck of therail forming with the superfluity of metal, or that obtained from therecess c the swelled neck of the rail represented in Fi 6 which serves avery important object in 0'iving strength to the rail at the joint. Therail is removed from the counter-die B after the first operation andplaced in the counter die D in an inverted state, With the surface 7Lresting on the inclined surface of the die plate k, When the rail isproperly clamped, the proper percussion force is applied to the base ofthe rail and the inclined face L in Figs. l and 5 is formed whichcompletes the several surfaces and completes one end of a rail section.The same operations are repeated on each end of every rail-section sothat the perfectV lap-joint may be effected in a very simple,

rapid and efficient manner and at the same time, great strength is givento the rails at the joints as before described. By this sWaging process,the metal at the rails ends is rendered more dense and stronger, andtherefore less liable to injury from the jar and concussion occasionedby the passing and repassing 0f trains over the rail, the

AARON DOUGLASS.

Witnesses CHARLES HUGHES, B. GIRoUX.

joint, Patent N o. 14,868,`ff^`

